DETROIT - A 9-year-old is recovering from a gunshot wound suffered when his grandfather fired at a pit bull that was attacking the boy in Detroit.

Police say the bullet fired by the 60-year-old man passed through the dog's body, ricocheted off the sidewalk and hit the boy in the thigh on Wednesday morning. The boy was taken to a hospital for treatment of what authorities called non-life-threatening injuries.

WJBK-TV says the man had a permit to carry the weapon.

A police spokeswoman tells the Detroit Free Press that Detroit Animal Control took custody of the dog, which survived the shooting.